After
all, it was a shutout the likes of which the Galaxy had not seen since before Donovan and Edson Buddle had rejoined the team from World Cup duty.

With
the result, the Galaxy snapped several dubious streaks. The club had not recorded
a league shutout since a June 26 draw at Toronto.

A stretch of eight matches followed in which the Galaxy could not keep a single clean sheet. It included a 3-2 home loss to the
Chicago Fire on Aug. 1, US Open Cup elimination at Seattle and a two-leg affair against the Puerto Rico Islanders which saw LA eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions League.

However, on Saturday the Galaxy played like they had earlier in the season. Edson Buddle
put the Galaxy ahead with an early goal and the club made it stand with tough
defending and solid goalkeeping.

Entering
the match, the focus was on New York's three Designated Players. While the trio
of Juan Pablo Angel, Thierry Henry and Rafael Marquez started the game and had
their opportunities to influence the match, none of the three could do enough
to solve the Galaxy's defense.

Angel came the closest to equalizing, rattling a
45th-minute shot off the crossbar. Henry also had a chance on a
one-on-one with Donovan Ricketts, but the Galaxy's standout goalkeeper turned Henry
away.

Of New York's 12 total shots, only two finished on target.

"The
defense did a good job," Galaxy forward Edson Buddle said. "I tried to do my part. The defense was solid all night,
they got a shutout and we were able to hold onto the lead."

And while
the focus was on the Red Bulls, Galaxy players couldn’t help but keep their
boss in mind.

Before the game,
the Galaxy announced that Bruce Arena had fallen ill with viral complications on
Wednesday. The recent Hall of Fame inductee spent two nights in the hospital but doctors said Arena was
expected to make a full recovery, according to the club. Arena was not on the
bench for the game but took the match in from a private suite.

Assistant
head coaches Dave Sarachan and Cobi Jones managed the game in Arena's absence and watched as the league leaders got their swagger back.

"There’s been a lot of talk about NY in the last few weeks," Donovan
said. "And we wanted to let people know who the best team in the league
is."